Former UFC interim champion Carlos Condit retires from mixed martial arts

“The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit has called it a career.

The former UFC interim welterweight champion has notified the UFC that he has retired from active competition following nearly 12 years spent with the promotion.

Sources initially alerted MMA Fighting on Thursday that Condit had retired. His longtime manager Malki Kawa from First Round Management then confirmed the news to MMA Fighting after the 37-year-old fighter previously gave notice to the UFC.

Throughout his career, Condit was long considered to be one of the best welterweights in the sport as well as one of the most exciting fighters on the roster at any given time.

After first debuting in 2002, Condit competed on the regional fight circuit until first gaining notoriety for a knockout win over Ross Ebanez at a Rumble on the Rock show in Hawaii. He then entered the promotion’s welterweight tournament where he promptly knocked out UFC veteran Renato “Charuto” Verissimo before pulling off a submission against ex-UFC title contender Frank Trigg.

In 2007, Condit joined the roster at the WEC where he claimed the vacant welterweight title in his second fight with the promotion with a submission win over John Alessio. He went on to defend his belt three times before moving onto the UFC roster.

Following a razor-close split decision loss to Martin Kampmann in his debut, Condit then tore through his next five wins in a row, including highlight-reel knockouts over Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim, before claiming the interim welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory against Nick Diaz.

He was never able to claim the undisputed UFC title, however, after suffering a decision loss to Georges St-Pierre in his next fight.

Condit came up short in his last bid to become undisputed champion when he lost a controversial split decision to Robbie Lawler in 2016 in a battle that has been universally praised as one of the best title fights in UFC history.

While the last few years had been tougher on Condit after he went on a five-fight losing streak, the always durable New Mexico native bounced back with two more wins over Court McGee and Matt Brown.

His last appearance with the UFC came back in July when he lost a decision to Max Griffin.

Condit’s career comes to an end with a 32-14 record overall, including a stunning finishing percentage with 28 of those victories coming by way of knockout or submission.